Maintenance mechanism for ink jet printer

ABSTRACT

A maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer is configured in such a manner that a claw member ( 7 ) for locking a slide member ( 6 ) during wiping operation is swingably supported on a base member ( 5 ) which is fixed to an apparatus body so that the claw member ( 7 ) does not move to the left and right, and the claw member ( 7 ) is forced downward by guided projecting parts ( 6   a ) provided on the slide member ( 6 ) during a print job so that the claw member ( 7 ) does not interfere with a carriage ( 2 ) which moves back and forth along a main scanning direction across a printing area.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a maintenance mechanism for an ink jetprinter which is of a type in which an ink cartridge is mounted on acarriage.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, an ink jet printer of a type in which an ink cartridgeis mounted on a carriage is equipped with a maintenance mechanism whichperforms wiping operation for cleaning a printhead of the ink cartridgeand capping operation for preventing the printhead from drying out.

As a prior art example of an ink jet printer maintenance mechanism ofthis kind, there exists an arrangement including a movable frame forperforming wiping operation and a lever which locks in a forward movingposition of the movable frame, the movable frame and the lever beingprovided as separate members, in which the lever attached to the movableframe via a spindle which serves as a connecting member locks themovable frame at its forward moving position and unlocks the movableframe by forward and reverse rotating motion of the lever (refer toJapanese Patent Application Publication No. 1993-096740, for example).

In the maintenance mechanism described in Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 1993-096740, however, it is necessary to separately moldthe lever and the movable frame with synthetic resin since the lever andthe movable frame which must be provided with the lever are configuredas separate members. This causes not only a remarkable increase inmanufacturing cost but also an increase in the number of components,which acts as an obstacle to achieving an overall cost reduction.

As a prior art example intended to overcome this obstacle, there existsan arrangement which makes it possible to reduce the number ofcomponents by one-piece molding a lever and a movable frame which mustbe provided with the lever with synthetic resin (refer to JapanesePatent Application Publication No. 2000-233517, for example).

A maintenance mechanism described in Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2000-233517 is equipped with a 2-pen type ink cartridgeand configured as shown in FIGS. 6(A) and (B), for example. FIG. 6 is adiagram showing an example of a conventional ink jet printer maintenancemechanism. As shown in the Figure, ink cartridges 51 are (detachably)mounted on a carriage 52 which is slidably supported by a metal frame 61of an apparatus body. Guided by a guide shaft 62, the carriage 52 movesback and forth along a main scanning direction to allow the inkcartridges 51 to perform a print job.

Caps 53 for capping printheads of the ink cartridges 51 and wipers 54for wiping the printheads are held by a slide member 56. Projections 56b of the slide member 56 are loosely fitted in guide holes 55 b formedin a base member 55 which is fixed to the apparatus body such that theslide member 56 can slide obliquely leftward and rightward.

A claw member 57 for locking the slide member 56 during wiping operationis swingably supported on the slide member 56 via a pivot 57 a. The clawmember 57 is always biased clockwise as illustrated by a tension spring59, whereby the slide member 56 is biased leftward down as illustrated.

FIG. 6(A) shows a condition in which the heads of the ink cartridges 51are capped by the caps 53. In this condition, the slide member 56 isconnected to a right side portion of the carriage 52 via a slidemember/carrier joint part 56 a and pushed up to an uppermost position.

FIG. 6(B) shows a condition in which the ink jet printer has transferredto a state of performing a print job. In this condition, the slidemember 56 is brought back obliquely leftward down by a tensile forceexerted by the tension spring 59 and stops at a lowermost position afterpassing the wiper positions. At the same time, the claw member 57 movesleftward and goes into a state in which the claw member 57 does notmutually interfere with a protruding part 52 a which is attached to alower-right portion of the carriage 52, where the carriage 52 is allowedto move to a print position as illustrated.

When attention is given to a mutual relationship of the positions of thewipers 54 and the claw member 57 in a left/right direction (mainscanning direction), it is seen that an upper-left projecting part ofthe claw member 57 is located at a position further to the left of theleft-hand wiper 54, that is, at a position close to a sheet transportarea, in the maintenance mechanism of Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2000-233517 shown in FIG. 6. Therefore, to avoidinterference between the claw member 57 and the protruding part 52 a ofthe carriage 52 and between the claw member 57 and a sheet, it isnecessary to place the claw member 57 farther away from the sheettransport area by a distance necessary for avoiding the interference.This causes an increase in the width of the apparatus as much as thatdistance.

If the upper-left projecting part of the claw member 57 is located atthe same position as the wiper 54 along the left/right direction asillustrated, for example, the slide member 56 is once locked by the clawmember 57 at about a mid-length position of each guide hole 55 b in thebase member 55 during wiping operation. However, since the protrudingpart 52 a of the carriage 52 meshes with the projecting part of the clawmember 57 and the slide member 56 is unlocked subsequently before thewipers 54 wipe entire nozzle faces of the ink cartridges 51, the wipers54 descend obliquely leftward down together with the slide member 56,causing a risk of inadequate wiping of the nozzle faces as aconsequence.

In the aforementioned structure of the conventional ink jet printermaintenance mechanism in which the claw member 57 is pivotably supportedon the slide member 56, the claw member 57 is located closer to thesheet transport area than the wipers 54 during a printing process, sothat it is necessary to enlarge the interval between the sheet transportarea and the wipers 54. It is therefore difficult to reduce the width ofthe apparatus as mentioned above.

Also, an ink jet printer of a type in which an ink cartridge is mountedon a carriage has not conventionally been provided with any damperplaced between a main chassis and a slide member for maintenance in amoving direction of the carriage. For this reason, an inertial force ofthe slide member for maintenance would be transmitted directly to themain chassis or a main body when the slide member for maintenancereturns back to its original position, causing severe vibration andcolliding sound.

The present invention has been made in light of such circumstances.Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an ink jetprinter maintenance mechanism which makes it possible to reduceapparatus width and alleviate vibration of the maintenance mechanism andcolliding sound caused thereby at reversing motion of a carriage.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, means for solving the aforementionedproblems is configured as explained in the following.

A maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer for performing cappingoperation and wiping operation on a printhead of an ink cartridgemounted on a carriage which moves back and forth along a main scanningdirection includes a base member fixed to an apparatus body, a slidemember held by the aforesaid base member slidably along the mainscanning direction, slide biasing means for causing the aforesaid slidemember to return back to a specified position of the base member whilecausing the aforesaid slide member to slide, a cap and a wiper fixed tothe aforesaid slide member, a claw member swingably supported on theaforesaid base member for locking the aforesaid slide member onto theaforesaid base member during the wiping operation performed by theaforesaid wiper, claw biasing means for biasing the aforesaid clawmember in a direction of locking, a claw push-down projecting partprovided on the aforesaid slide member for forcing the aforesaid clawmember downward in contact with the aforesaid claw member, and anunlocking protruding part provided at the bottom of the aforesaidcarriage, in which the aforesaid unlocking protruding part comes intocontact with the aforesaid claw member as a result of a movement of theaforesaid carriage at the beginning of a printing process uponcompletion of the wiping operation and causes the aforesaid claw memberto release the aforesaid slide member from a locked state so that theaforesaid slide member returns back to the specified position of thebase member. This maintenance mechanism for the ink jet printer ischaracterized in that the maintenance mechanism is configured in such amanner that the aforesaid claw push-down projecting part comes intocontact with the aforesaid claw member due to returning motion of theaforesaid slide member and forces the aforesaid claw member down to aposition lower than the aforesaid unlocking protruding part to avoidmutual interference between the aforesaid claw member and the aforesaidcarriage.

In this configuration, the claw member for securing the slide member tothe base member is swingably supported on the base member during thewiping operation and the claw member is forced downward by the clawpush-down projecting part of the slide member in the printing process tothereby avoid mutual interference between the claw member and thecarriage. Therefore, it is possible to achieve a reduction in the widthof an apparatus.

Also, a maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer is characterized inthat the position of the aforesaid claw member during the aforesaidprinting process is set lower than a sheet surface.

In this configuration, the claw member stop position during the printingprocess is set lower than the sheet surface, so that it is possible tocause the claw member and the wiper to be positioned at a locationimmediately beneath the sheet. Specifically, it becomes possible tocause the position of the wiper and a sheet transport area to overlap.This makes it possible to achieve a further reduction in the width ofthe apparatus.

Also, a maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer is characterized inthat the maintenance mechanism is provided with a damper for preventingan inertial force of the aforesaid slide member caused by the returningmotion thereof back to the aforesaid specified position from beingtransmitted directly to the aforesaid base member and the apparatusbody.

In this configuration, the occurrence of vibration and colliding soundof the maintenance mechanism during the returning motion of themaintenance mechanism back to its original position is suppressed by thedamper.

Also, a maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer is characterized inthat the aforesaid slide member is provided with a fixing part to whichthe aforesaid wiper and the aforesaid damper are integrally fixed.

In this configuration, the wiper and the damper are integrally fixed tothe fixing part of the slide member, so that the damper can be easilyinstalled.

Also, a maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer is characterized inthat the aforesaid damper is made of a compression spring having a shapewhich makes it possible to fix the aforesaid damper to the aforesaidfixing part.

In this configuration, a compression spring featuring high manufacturingefficiency and reliability of damping force is used as the damper, sothat it is possible to obtain stable damping performance at low cost.

Furthermore, a maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer ischaracterized in that the aforesaid wiper is made of an elastic memberhaving a shape which makes it possible to fix the aforesaid wiper afterthe aforesaid damper has been fixed to the aforesaid fixing part.

In this configuration, the damper is prevented from coming off thefixing part of the slide member without increasing the number ofcomponents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic structure of a carriage and amaintenance mechanism of an ink jet printer according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the carriage and the maintenance mechanism ofthe ink jet printer;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating wiping operation performed by amaintenance mechanism according to the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating capping operation performed by theaforesaid maintenance mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of fixing a damper and a wiperto a slide member according to the embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional ink jet printermaintenance mechanism.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Maintenance mechanisms for an ink jet printer according to embodimentsof the present invention are now described below in detail withreference to the drawings, although the invention is not limitedthereto.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic structure of a carriage and amaintenance mechanism of an ink jet printer according to one embodimentof the present invention, in which FIG. 1(A) is a plan view showing thecarriage accommodating an ink cartridge having printhead and themaintenance mechanism for wiping and capping the printhead, FIG. 1(B) isa sectional view taken along a line A-A of FIG. 1(A), and FIG. 1(C) is asectional view taken along a line B-B of FIG. 1(A). FIG. 2 is a sideview of the carriage and the maintenance mechanism shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, designated by 1 is the ink cartridge inwhich the 1-pen type printhead (not shown) is integrally formed.Designated by 2 is the carriage made of molded synthetic resin, forexample, for carrying the ink cartridge 1. Designated by 2 a is anunlocking protruding part jutting out downward from the bottom of thecarriage 2. Designated by 3 is a cap made of an elastic material likesynthetic resin, for example, for covering the printhead at a printingstandby position. Designated by 4 is a wiper made of an elastic materiallike urethane rubber for wiping out ink, dust, etc. adhering to asurface of the printhead. Designated by 6 is a slide member equippedwith the cap 3 and the wiper 4. Designated by 5 is a base member forsliding the slide member. Designated by 7 is a claw member for lockingthe slide member 6 onto the base member 5 while the printhead is beingwiped.

In the base member 5, designated by 5 a are guide holes formed asintegral parts of the base member for guiding the slide member 6. In theslide member 6, designated by 6 a are guided projecting parts to beguided by the guide holes 5 a, the guided projecting parts 6 a beingintegrally formed on the slide member 6, designated by 6 b is a slidemember/carriage joint part which is formed such that the carriage 2becomes engaged with a protruding part provided underneath the carriage2 when the carriage 2 moves to the printing standby position, anddesignated by 6 c is a lock-on claw which becomes engaged with the clawmember 7 to lock the slide member 6 onto the base member 5.

Designated by 8 is claw biasing means made of a tension spring mountedbetween the claw member 7 and the base member 5. Designated by 9 isslide biasing means made of a tension spring mounted between the slidemember 6 and the base member 5. Designated by 10 is a guide shaftconstructed of a stainless steel material, for example, for guiding thecarriage 2 along a main scanning direction in a stable fashion.Designated by 11 is a metal frame (main chassis) constructed of agalvanized steel plate, for example, and provided in an apparatus bodyfor accommodating constituent components of the ink jet printer.Designated by 12 is a damper constructed of a compression spring, forexample, for preventing an inertial force of the slide member 6 causedby its returning motion from being transmitted directly to the basemember 5.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the carriage 2 has the base member 5 havingthe movable slide member 6 and the guide holes 5 a and the claw member 7for locking the slide member 6 at the wiper position, and the cap 3 andthe wiper 4 are attached to the slide member 6. Also, the base member 5is fixed to the metal frame 11 of the apparatus body.

Fitted with the slide biasing means 9, the slide member 6 is alwaysbiased in a direction in which the slide member 6 is brought back to aspecified position. On the other hand, the claw member 7 is heldrotatably about the base member 5 and always biased by the tensionspring 8 in such a direction that the claw is locked.

With the aforementioned structure, the carriage 2 on which thedetachable ink cartridge 1 is mounted is slidably supported by the metalframe 11 provided in the apparatus body and guided by the guide shaft10, whereby the carriage 2 performs a print job with ink spewed out ofthe printhead of the ink cartridge 1 while moving back and forth alongthe main scanning direction across a printing area.

In a maintenance area located next to the printing area, there isprovided the maintenance mechanism which is described below.Specifically, the base member 5 is fixed to the apparatus body in avertical position and the slide member 6 is held by the base member 5 insuch a manner that the slide member 6 can slide along the main scanningdirection of the carriage 2 and a sub scanning direction (of a sheet)(i.e., a vertical direction when the maintenance mechanism is placed ina horizontal position).

Specifically, there are formed the guide holes 5 a extending obliquelyleftward and rightward in the base member 5, and the guided projectingpart 6 a projectingly formed on the slide member 6 are loosely fitted inthe guide holes 5 a (refer to FIG. 1(B)).

The slide member 6 is always biased by the slide biasing means 9 made ofa tension spring in the direction in which the slide member 6 is broughtback to the specified position, and the cap 3 and the wiper 4 areprovided at an upper part of the slide member 6.

The claw member 7 for locking the slide member 6 onto the base member 5during wiping operation performed by the wiper 4 is swingably supportedon the base member 5 by means of a pivot 7 a. The claw member 7 isalways biased in a direction of locking by the claw biasing means 8 madeof a tension spring.

With the aforementioned structure, the carriage 2, when carrying outmaintenance operation upon completion of the print job performed byback-and-forth movements along the main scanning direction, goes intothe maintenance area and, then, the wiper 4 performs the wipingoperation to wipe the printhead (refer to FIG. 3).

The slide member 6 moves in a direction toward a sheet transport sidewhen returning to a standby position of the slide member 6 uponcompletion of the wiping operation. When the slide member 6 is at thestandby position, the guided projecting parts 6 a of the slide member 6and lower ends of the guide holes 5 a of the base member 5 are in mutualcontact, where the slide member 6 is set in a positioned state. In thisstate, the damper 12 is disposed between the wiper 4 and the metal frame11 and the damper 12 is configured such that the damper 12 comes incontact with the metal frame 11. Impact is absorbed and the occurrenceof colliding sound is prevented by a damping effect of the damper 12(refer to FIG. 1(C)). It is possible to use a compression spring orsponge as the damper 12.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating wiping operation performed by amaintenance mechanism according to the embodiment of the presentinvention, in which designated by 6 d is a claw push-down projectingpart provided on a slide member 6 for forcing a claw member 7 downwardin contact with the claw member 7. When a carriage 2 moves to a rightend side as shown in FIG. 3, a right end portion of the carriage 2 goesinto contact with a slide member/carriage joint part 6 b, which isdisposed to project upward from a right end of the slide member 6,thereby pushing in the slide member/carriage joint part 6 b (refer toFIG. 1(C)) rightward and forcing the slide member 6 upward up to amid-height position.

At this time, a lock-on claw 6 c of the slide member 6 becomes engagedwith the claw member 7, the slide member 6 is locked by a base member 5(refer to FIG. 1) and a printhead of an ink cartridge 1 which moves withthe carriage 2 slides relative to a wiper 4 which is set in a fixedstate, whereby wiping operation (cleaning of an ink nozzle face) isperformed.

As the carriage 2 moves leftward upon completion of the wipingoperation, an unlocking protruding part 2 a formed to jut out beyond thebottom of the carriage 2 goes into contact with an upper-left projectingpart of the claw member 7, thereby causing the claw member 7 to swingcounterclockwise. As a consequence, the lock-on claw 6 c unlocks theclaw member 7 and the slide member 6 is released from its locked state,whereby the slide member 6 is caused to return back to a specifiedposition, the claw member 7 is caused to swing counterclockwise by theclaw push-down projecting part 6 d projectingly formed on the slidemember 6, and the aforesaid upper-left projecting part descends down toa position where the upper-left projecting part does not interfere withthe unlocking protruding part 2 a of the carriage 2 (refer to FIG.1(B)).

Since a cap 3 and the wiper 4 have already descended below theupper-left projecting part of the claw member 7 in this state, a printjob performed in a printing area by back-and-forth movements of thecarriage 2 along the main scanning direction is not hindered at all anda left end of the claw member 7 does not jut out leftward beyond a rightend of the carriage 2 (refer to FIG. 1(B)). Therefore, the printing areais not confined in any way by the claw member 7.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating capping operation performed by themaintenance mechanism according to the embodiment of the presentinvention. as shown in FIG. 4, During the capping operation, the rightend portion of the carriage 2 goes into contact with the slidemember/carriage joint part 6 b (not shown) of the slide member 6 due toa movement of the carriage 2 toward the right end as shown in FIG. 4. Asa result, the right end portion of the carriage 2 pushes in the slidemember/carriage joint part 6 b toward the right end and forces the slidemember 6 upward up to an uppermost position, and the printhead (inknozzle) of the ink cartridge 1 is capped by the cap 3.

When the ink jet printer transfers to a printing process upon releasingthe cap 3 from this capped state, the carriage 2 moves leftward.Consequently, the carriage 2 is released from a state of contact withthe slide member/carriage joint part 6 b and the slide member 6 iscaused to return back to the specified position by a slide biasing means9.

Also, upon completion of the wiping operation, the cap 3 and the wiper 4provided on the slide member 6 are at positions located below an upperend portion of the claw member 7 and a left end of the claw member 7does not jut out beyond the right end of the carriage 2 as illustratedin FIG. 1(B). Therefore, the print job performed in the printing area byback-and-forth movements of the carriage 2 along the main scanningdirection is not hindered at all by the maintenance mechanism and itbecomes possible to achieve a reduction in size of the apparatus inwidth direction.

In other words, the claw member 7 pivotably supported by the carriage 2simply makes swinging motion at the specified position relative to theslide member 6 which moves obliquely to the left and right, and the clawmember 7 does not move to the left and right at all. (Conventionally,the claw member moves to the left and right together with the slidemember.) In this arrangement, there exists no obstacle which confinesthe printing area by jutting to the left from the carriage 2 and, as aresult, it becomes possible to achieve a reduction in size of theapparatus in the width direction.

Furthermore, although not illustrated, it becomes possible to cause theclaw member 7 and the wiper 4 to be positioned at a location immediatelybeneath a sheet if the position of (the upper end portion of) the clawmember 7 during the printing process is set lower than a surface of thesheet. Specifically, as it becomes possible to cause the position of thewiper 4 and a sheet transport area to overlap, it is possible to achievea further reduction in size of the apparatus in the width direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of fixing a damper and a wiperto a slide member according to the embodiment of the present invention,in which FIG. 5(A) shows a state before the damper and the wiper arefixed to a fixing part of the slide member, and FIG. 5(B) shows a statein which the damper and the wiper have been fixed to the fixing part ofthe slide member. Here, designated by 6 e is the fixing part of theslide member 6 to which the wiper 4 and the damper 12 are fixed to forma single structure. The damper 12 is structured with a compressionspring having a shape which makes it possible to fix the damper 12 tothe fixing part 6 e. Made of an elastic material, the wiper 4 has ashape which makes it possible to fix the wiper 4 after the damper 12 hasbeen fixed to the fixing part 6 e. Although a method of fixing thedamper 12 to the side of the slide member 6 is shown in this example,the damper 12 may be fixed to the side of a metal frame 11 which facesthe wiper 4.

While the invention has been described, by way of example, withreference to a so-called 1-cartridge type printer in which a single inkcartridge is mounted on a carriage in the aforementioned embodiments,the maintenance mechanism of the present invention is not limitedthereto but is similarly applicable to a multi-cartridge type printer inwhich a plurality of ink cartridges are mounted on a carriage.

As is apparent from the foregoing discussion, the present inventionexhibits the following effects:

(1) The maintenance mechanism is configured in such a manner that theclaw member for locking the slide member is swingably supported by thebase member so that the claw member does not move leftward and rightwardduring the wiping operation and the claw member does not interfere withthe carriage by forcing the slide member downward during execution ofthe print job. As a result, the claw member does not confine theprinting area and it becomes possible to achieve a reduction in size ofthe apparatus in width direction.

(2) If the claw member stop position during the print job is set lowerthan the sheet surface, it becomes possible to cause the claw member andthe wiper to be positioned at a location immediately beneath the sheetand the location of the wiper and the sheet transport area to overlap.This makes it possible to achieve a further reduction in size of theapparatus in the width direction.

(3) It is possible to suppress the occurrence of vibration and collidingsound of the maintenance mechanism produced when the maintenancemechanism returns back to its original position.

(4) It is possible to integrally fix the wiper and the damper to thefixing part of the slide member and thereby facilitate work forinstalling the damper.

(5) It is possible to enhance the manufacturing efficiency andreliability of damping force of the damper and obtain stable dampingperformance at low cost.

(6) It is possible to prevent the slide member from coming off thefixing part of the slide member without increasing the number ofcomponents.

1) A maintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer for performing cappingoperation and wiping operation on a printhead of an ink cartridgemounted on a carriage which moves back and forth along a main scanningdirection, said maintenance mechanism comprising: a base member fixed toan apparatus body; a slide member held by said base member slidablyalong the main scanning direction; slide biasing means for causing saidslide member to return back to a specified position of the base memberwhile causing said slide member to slide; a cap and a wiper fixed tosaid slide member; a claw member swingably supported on said base memberfor locking said slide member onto said base member during the wipingoperation performed by said wiper; a claw biasing member for biasingsaid claw member in a direction of locking; a claw push-down projectingpart provided on said slide member for forcing said claw member downwardin contact with said claw member; and an unlocking protruding partprovided at the bottom of said carriage, in which said unlockingprotruding part comes into contact with said claw member as a result ofa movement of said carriage at the beginning of a printing process uponcompletion of the wiping operation and causes said claw member torelease said slide member from a locked state so that said slide memberreturns back to the specified position of the base member; wherein saidmaintenance mechanism is configured in such a manner that said clawpush-down projecting part comes into contact with said claw member dueto returning motion of said slide member and forces said claw memberdown to a position lower than said unlocking protruding part to avoidmutual interference between said claw member and said carriage. 2) Amaintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer as recited in claim 1,wherein the position of said claw member during said printing process isset lower than a sheet surface. 3) A maintenance mechanism for an inkjet printer as recited in claim 1, further comprising a damper forpreventing an inertial force of said slide member caused by thereturning motion thereof back to said specified position from beingtransmitted directly to said base member and the apparatus body. 4) Amaintenance mechanism for an ink jet printer as recited in claim 3,wherein said slide member is provided with a fixing part to which saidwiper and said damper are integrally fixed. 5) A maintenance mechanismfor an ink jet printer as recited in claim 4, wherein said damper ismade of a compression spring having a shape which makes it possible tofix said damper to said fixing part. 6) A maintenance mechanism for anink jet printer as recited in claim 5, wherein said wiper is made of anelastic member having a shape which makes it possible to fix said wiperafter said damper has been fixed to said fixing part.